Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-18

where, recovering his equilibrium, he
would stop and wait patiently for
further orders. Sometimes Jerry
(this was the mules name) would, by
great effort, pull the wheel out and
start us ahead again, and sometimes
we were obliged to alight and help
him. There was hole of one kind
or another about every rod of the
road all the way through these woods,
and between them our buggy went
over the logs-ker-fump, ker-hump-
in a way that was anything but sooth-
ing to ones nerves.
improved the time of the journey
to begin the investigation / had come
to make but | soon discovered that 1
was fishing in barren waters. Bill
the driver, knew nothing about Ku
Klux. or ut least said he didn't. He
had not heard OF anybody's being
killed, or whipped, Or otherwise hurt.
The Yankees-l1ederal soldiers-were
up at Livingston, but he didn't know
what they were there for. He knew
nothing about the election He had
heard of Mas'r Grant and Mas'r
Lincoln, but every other Northern
name was Greek to him.
He had never heard OF
Mr.. Sumner or his civil-rights
bill; never OF Greeley (although Mr..
Greeley had been the Democratic can
didate for the Presidency two years
before) of Garrison, of Phillips; never
OF any of the statesmen of the North,
who were then struggling to place the
freedom of the negro upon perma-
nent basis. His dense ignorance and
stupidity were past comprehension
But to one thing 1 made up my mind.
Affairs at Livingston and in Sumter
county must be moving pretty much
in the accustomed grooves, or even
this stupid negro would know of dis
turbance.
All journeys come to an end, and
mine was no exception. We drove
into town an hour after midnight, and
| was ushered into the office of the
hotel. 1t was long, narrow, barn
room, baggage-room, and porter's dor
mitory. On one side was little shelf
on Which lay the register. The pro-
prietor was waiting for me. A single
glance showed him to be "a charac-
ter" He was long and lank and raw
boned, like the typical Uncle Sam.
His cheeks were hollow, and his skin
yellow from the effects of swamp
fever. He wore an ancient swallow
tailed coat, very long in the shirts,
and very short in the waist and
s,1aox,oo He toll .;1I- bat ,,,,e ,,,Jo
"befo' de wah," and by constant
usage had lost large part of its nap.
Short gray trowsers and old carpet
slippers completed his costume.
AS soon as l entered he began to
kick what appeared to be a pile OF
ragged old bed-quilts upon the floor,
and, after time, a woolly head pro-
truded, followed by burly negro as
ragged as his bed. He showed me to
my room, and l retired at once to
dream thatI was sleeping on the top
OF picket fence. l subsequently
discovered that the upholsterer who
made that bed of corn-shucks had
very economically put in the cobs.
was awakened about sunrise by
the roll OF II drum. Looking about
my room, found that was lodged al
the end Of the house, and that typi.
cal Southern chimney, built on the
outside, had once formed the greater
part OF the side wall. This chimney
had disappeared-blown down, / sup
pose-and left a broad opening to the
outer air. The opening had been par.
TALLY closed by some loose boards sci
up against the house on the outside
but there was open space enough left
to afford ample ventilation and tC
allow me to look through and
see the white tents of the United
States troops that were pitched in the
court-house-yard on the opposite side
of the street.
took mental inventory of the
furniture OF my room. The bedstead
which might originally have cost two
dollars, was narrow and rickety; the
bed was as hard as the floor and not
as smooth; the linen was scanty and
not very clean; there was one rheu.
matte, old-fashioned, splint-bottom
chair; shelf q foot square supported
by a brace, and on it a tin basin and a
piece of yellow soap; beneath it stood
bucket of water, while over it a
broken piece of mirror was nailed upon
the wall, with a towel foot square
hanging by it's side.
l did not linger long at my toilet,
but fastened down to breakfast, not
having eaten since the previous noon.
The dining-room was low, dark, dis
nal apartment, its walls black with the
smoke and fiy-specks of many ante
bellum years. The table was covered
with red cloth, in which had been
stored the odors of weeks of greasy
meals. and the crockery looked as
though it had been bought in job lots
of single pieces at country auction
sales.
"What have you for breakfast ?" l
asked OF the single waiter, the porter
of the night before, whose greasy rags
fluttered in the breeze that came in at
the open window.
"Meat an green's, sah," was the
"But l do MT eat meat and green's {"
| said; "what else have you?"
"Sorry, sab, but dat's the break
fast"
Looking around, found that the
two or three other "guests" were
struggling with the same repast.
"Meat and green's" l ought to ex-
plain, perhaps, is distinctively South
ern dish that is prepared by boiling
smoked bacon and cabbage-sprouts or
other kind of green's together. The
grease and the flavor OF the smoke
permeate the green's, and plateful is
warranted to upset the strongest
Northern stomach. 1 made my break
fast that morning from corn-bread,
coarse, underdone and soggy muddy
coffee constructed from field-peas,
over-roasted and served without milk !;
and an egg, which was the only
thing ! could obtain that was fit
for civilized man to eat. There
was no excuse for such liv-
ing, for the county is rich, producing
: